Best Mates
by childofflameandwave
Summary: No one wants to get The Talk from their mother, least of all Kiba. But when Iruka tells Kiba's mother that Kiba had been showing some aggression towards his classmates, Tsume knows it is time for The Talk with her son. One-shot Kiba and female Naruto.


**I hope you enjoy this one-shot of mine.**

**By the way…I don't own Naruto…I know it shocks everyone, but I don't. ^.^**

**Best Mates**

Flying over the village of Konoha, the flock of blue birds came upon the branches of a twisted Oak tree outside of a large bricked building in the middle of village. The offspring of the tree littered the ground beneath the old Oak. A twisting late blooming blackberry bush made its way up the trunk of the Oak, somehow surviving in the shade of the tree, showing beautiful ripe berries to all who look. As winter was coming, with its large trek south for these migratory birds, the offering of acorns and blackberries could not be ignored. So early morning could see these birds land and start to make their way through the offerings given by nature.

From inside the brick building sounds of movement could be heard, the school day for the young ninja hopefuls had just started. The rush of feet making their way into their class rooms was quite normal for this time of year, as were the muffled yells of screeching girls, all proclaiming their love of fellow classmate, Sasuke Uchiha. In fact, all the noise was quite normal, or was…

"You're in my space Dog Breath, get out!!"

The unusually irate yells of a normally happy blonde, sounded over the fan girls' screeches, out the window, causing the feeding bluebirds to start and scatter from their feast. Her yells were even more unusual due to the fact that she was normally most happy being close to her boys, they would fight like puppies in a basket, but they always got along.

Unbeknownst to Kiba, who was acting on his instincts in response to Naruto, he kept pushing her, ignoring his snickering puppy, Akamaru. "I can be here if I want nothing you can do to stop me."

Lately, Kiba has felt the need to assert dominance over Naruto, not totally unlike the need to fight with his sister at home. Picking on her like this, getting into Naruto's space, has become the highlight of his academy days.

Akamaru seemed to know what was going on, but was not forthcoming with his partner. The more the fought, the more tickled the puppy became, he was happy for the two, or rather he would be when they got past the fighting stage.

Before Naruto could respond, much to Kiba's and the entire class's relief, Iruka made his way into the class room, effectively quieting the blonde. Having won the dominance game for now, Kiba happily took his seat next to the blonde, the puppy cuddling up in her lap.

Iruka started his lecture on the history of the third ninja war; they had a test on the subject next week and have been told that the material would also be on their graduation exam. The flash of gold from the sunlight on Naruto's hair brought Kiba's attention back to her.

Gazing at Naruto, Kiba took in her appearance. Today Naruto was wearing a day-glow orange net shirt under a firm black tank shirt. A red-orange Uzumaki swirl adorned the back of the tank, the size similar to that of the Uchiha's fan on the back of Sasuke's shirt. Naruto's matching bright orange skirt drew attention due to its un-ninja like color and its shortness.

Kiba was a little shocked to find that he was somewhat disappointed that Naruto was wearing black shorts under her skirt instead of showing her bare skin. Naruto is his best friend, but these feelings and thoughts keep plaguing him. It seemed lately that Kiba was ever more aware of what she wore and felt more and more pleasure over proving his dominance over her and the rest of his classmates in front of her.

He also found himself more and more annoyed at his other friends and the attention they get from Naruto. Ever since they were little and playing in the park, Naruto was treated just like any other guy. Any training or fighting that happened she was in the middle of it, playing with the guys. Now though, any time she would jokingly punch one of their friends or give out one of her coveted hugs, Kiba would feel a wave of intense jealously.

Of all their friends, Shino was the one that Kiba felt the least threatened by. Shino had seemed to back off of Naruto as soon as Kiba had started to show his need to dominate. Kiba didn't really notice the time correlation; just that Shino was not touching her. Unlike the oblivious Kiba, Shino knew what was going on between the two ninjas; due to the skills he gained by working with his hive and the information they gathered about the pheromones surrounding his two friends. Realizing what the arguments were about, he stepped back to give them the room they did not know they needed.

To Kiba, Shikamaru was not much of a threat either. He was relatively weak in stature and strength. Shika was not very physical either, all he really had going for him was his lazy intelligence. And, while Naruto liked to look at the clouds with him, which was all she did. Well, cloud watching and the occasional hug, but their brother-sister type relationship did not bother Kiba.

Even Sasuke with his constant challenges to Naruto could not upset Kiba, or mush anyways. Naruto would fight just as much with him as she did with Kiba, but there was not any of the same…heat…in their fights as there was with Kiba and Naruto. If Sasuke was a little more social, Kiba would have deemed his and Naruto's relationship like Shika's, a brother-sister, but more competitive, relationship.

Oddly enough it was Choji, who Kiba felt the most threatened by. Naruto treated the larger ninja-hopeful like a big teddy bear. One could hardly look around without seeing Naruto hugging or wrestling with Choji. Unlike the way it is with Shika, when Naruto plays with Choji, it doesn't seem like a sibling relationship, it could be due to the fact that Kiba can sense the larger boy's enjoyment to being hugged by the blond. But what got Kiba every time was when Choji offered Naruto food, that was his job, and Kiba felt his hackles rise with each piece of food Choji shared with her.

Kiba was pulled out of his musings by constant pokes to his upper arm.

"Kiba." Poke. "Kiba." Another poke. "KIBA!"

"What? Uh, where is the class?"

Naruto rolled her eyes, and then answered, "Iruka finished his lecture, about 5 minutes ago, since then I have been trying to get your attention. It is time for target practice. We are learning how to use kunai today, so hurry up." When she finished speaking she latched onto Kiba's arm and dragged him out to the training field that the rest of the class already occupied.

Iruka glanced up as the two wayward students ran out onto the field. "Now that Kiba and Naruto have joined us we can get started. I am going to break you all up into groups of 4, since there are 28 of you there will be 7 groups. One person at a time will throw from each group to the target they are assigned, once all four of the kunai are thrown, the thrower will gather the kunai then hand them off to the next member of their group. Now when you throw the kunai you will hold it like this and then throw."

Iruka demonstrated the how to hold the kunai the proper way, then quickly threw the weapon at the target, hitting the dead center of it. Then he split the class up in groups of four.

Naruto and Kiba high fived each other when they were put on the same team along with Sasuke and Shino. The hate filled glares of every certified, card-carrying member of the Sasuke Uchiha fan club, focused on Naruto's back. Fangirls are enough to give any normal person nightmares, Sasuke's fangirls more than most. It was a good thing Naruto was not normal, their glares washed off her back like water on a duck's. The boys just rolled their eyes at the other girls' reaction to their friend being on their team, as long as the glares did not affect Naruto they could care less. Naruto, for her part, just turned and stuck out her tongue at the girls, then got in line with her three boys, taking the third position in their group.

Some of the top members of the Sasuke fanclub, the upper echelon of crazy Sasuke wanna-be lovers, noticed the position that Naruto took in line. The four girls placed themselves in the fourth spot of their groups, their plan already communicated amongst themselves.

Naruto clapped for Sasuke, he made 3 out of 5 kunai in the bulls-eye. He had previous practice with all sorts of ninja weapons when he was younger, most students in ninja families had had practice before. Sasuke's other two throws hit the inner ring just outside the bulls eye of the target.

Kiba, another student form a ninja family, also had previous experience with kunai. He got one and half kunai in the bulls-eye of the target, that half a kunai was on the line of the center and the inner ring of the target. His other three kunai hit within the second and third ring of the target. When Kiba heard Naruto's cheering and congratulations, his face took on a slight blush and he felt pleasure in her acknowledgement of his skills.

Naruto waited for Kiba to collect the kunai at the end of the field so that she could have her turn at throwing the kunai. Her first time to throw the kunai, she did not put enough force behind the throw, so instead of embedding itself into the tree three feet from the target she was aiming for, the tip hit, then the kunai fell to the ground. Naruto's second throw was closer to the target, a tree just one foot away, this time the kunai but hit the wood so it to fell to the ground. The three guys kept encouraging Naruto in their own way, Kiba with his yells, Shino with his quite murmur, and Sasuke and his quite approval and slight smirk. The third and forth kunai hit the outermost ring of the target, while the fifth hit the third ring of the four ring and bulls-eye target. For someone who did not have any family to train her, she did really well on her first time.

It happened when Naruto went to fetch her kunai so that Shino could have his turn. Some of the other groups were already on their fourth member; the four girls who had a plan for Naruto were already in place, having thrown three out of five kunai already. As soon as Naruto was at the end of the field with all the targets, the four girls shared a look, aimed, then let loose with their kunai.

The first kunai whipped past Naruto's ear, the whistle of the wind as it passed informed Naruto that she had a close miss. She turned around to yell at who ever missed their target and almost hit her. One of the civilian born female student's kunai was tumbling in the air, she had thrown it wrong, but hard enough so that when the butt slammed into Naruto's eyebrow, lacerating (tearing the skin due to pressure) the brow and causing blood to burst forth down her face and blinding her to the other two kunai coming her way. The third kunai, sharp end this time, managed to puncture into Naruto's middle, perforating her liver. The last weapon thrown just managed to graze her left arm leaving a shallow surface cut the length of her arm.

Within seconds of the kunai hitting several things happened. Naruto collapsed to the ground, her arms wrapped around her middle. Kiba , Akamaru at his side, took off to the far end of the field trying to reach his crying Naruto. Iruka beat him to Naruto's position, and quickly gathered the weeping, bleeding girl into his arms, then started to issue out rapid orders to his class.

"Kiba, get back. Go fetch Eto and have him take those four girls," he pointed to the four girls who were now looking down at the ground in shame as they realized they actually hurt the girl, not just scared her, "to the Hokage. Class, keep those four under guard, Mizuki, you keep an eye on the class." With his issues ordered he took off to the hospital, a quietly sobbing Naruto in his arm, leaving a blood trail behind them.

Kiba raced off to the head of the academy, Eto's, office, becoming progressively more and more aggressive and agitated. As soon as he informed Eto of what happened on the training field, he quickly made his way to the hospital so see if his best friend, his Naruto, was ok. If she was not, he was going to shred those girls to pieces; Akamaru yipped in agreement…that was when he realized he was growling out loud.

He quickly made his way to the front desk and asked for Naruto's room. Kiba ignored the nurse who warmly met him, whose warm face quickly chilled when he said Naruto's name. As soon as she gave the room number her, he took off with his puppy to room number 103, an emergency room in the E hall of the hospital. Upon reaching E hall, Kiba saw Iruka pacing outside of a door, presumably Naruto's room, his face very pale.

"Iruka sensei how is Naruto?" Kiba was able to growl out at his teacher.

Startled at Kiba's appearance in the hall and at his usually angry tone, Iruka answered, "The doctors have said that she should be fine. All ready they have fixed up her arm and stitched up her brow, they are working on her liver now. They said that they were able to get to the liver in time, so the prospect is good."

Iruka took a seat and watched as Kiba took his place placing in front of the emergency room. His growls and glares at anyone who passed reminded Iruka of a conversation he had had with Kiba's mother Tsume, the first day Kiba started the academy. Kiba's actions now made since to him, Iruka quickly took out an emergency blank scroll that every teacher carries and jotted down a quick note for the pacing irked ninja's mother. He quickly stopped an orderly who was flinching away from Kiba's glare, he gave the orderly the code word that meant "drop everything that is not an important task and complete this new one".

"Sorry sir, but I do have a task, good luck though." The orderly muttered out and with one last glance at Kiba, he took off at a faster pace.

Iruka sighed, knowing he could not leave Naruto's side but he could not leave Kiba here in his present state. A wet nose nudged the hand that held the note, glancing down Iruka met the eyes of Kiba's pup. Akamaru nudged the note again, this time getting his message across to the nin, Iruka handed the not to the pup and told him to take it Kiba's mother. He watched as the puppy ran down the hall.

Kiba was shocked out of his own pacing when someone grabbed his shoulder. He quickly spun around teeth bared in a snarl to face whoever the person was, who dared interrupted his pacing.

Who he saw quickly made the snarl on his face turn into a worried frown, "Mom? What are you doing here?" Needless to say, Kiba was a little shocked to see the hand belonged to his mother of all people.

"Come on pup; let's go home for a bit." Tsume saw that her son was going to protest, so she quickly tapped the back of his head in a show of dominance, proving that she was still alpha of their pack.

After the display, Kiba followed his mother is a submissive manner, but was no less agitated because for some reason Kiba's instincts were screaming out to stay with his friend. As soon as they came to the compound, Tsume directed Kiba to sit down on the plush chair in their living room.

"Kiba, it seems it is time to have The Talk."

Face flushed a scarlet red; Kiba leaped from the chair, "Mom! I do not need the talk. We already had the talk at the academy. I do not want to go over where ...uh…babies come from …and stuff." He could still recall the horror of sitting through that lecture with all of his friends. The academy thought it would be wise to not separate the two genders and just had them all sit through both lectures on male and female reproduction.

Hearing Kiba's outburst and seeing the light blush highlighting his cheeks, Tsume busted out laughing, hard. When she calmed down, it took a while, and was able to talk again she started. "Son, dear, that is not quite the talk I wanted to have with you. It has more to do with the agitation and aggression you have been showing lately, an Inuzuka special talk."

"Oh," Kiba responded, "uh what sort of talk is the Inuzuka Talk?"

Tsume giggled, scaring Kiba, when ever his mother giggled the one the giggles were aimed at knew they were in trouble. "Pup, the talk is the Inuzuka coming of age talk."

"That talk…wait…I did not know there was a coming of age talk…what is it about?"

His mother rolled her eyes, a grin still shinning from her face. Tsume decided just to jump right in to the lecture that she had been planning on giving her son since she realized she was going to have one.

"Now pup, what I am about to say has been passed on to all of the Inuzukas since the beginning of our clan. As you know, our clan shares characteristics with our canine partners, characteristics like our good senses, loyalty to our pack, and susceptible to our hormones. "

Kiba cut into his mothers speech at that last one, "Hormones, I get the first two characteristics, but what does being sussup…susceptible to our hormones mean?"

"No more interruptions pup, if you would let me finish, I will explain everything…then you can ask me questions." Tsume waited for her son's nod before she started again. "Once an Inuzuka hits puberty, our animalistic hormones start pushing us to find a mate. Our mates usually share some sort of animalistic bond or quirk, whether they are summoners or like our clan. When we find the one who was meant to be our mate, we, well the men usually become more aggressive towards other males who are around their chosen mate. They also become pushier towards their chosen; their instincts to prove their dominance drive them on. Now a while ago I received a message from your sensei, outlining the way you have been acting in class lately, I saw for myself how you were acting at the hospital. It would seem that you have become more aggressive towards your friends, growling at them when they come to close to your classmate, Naruto. You have also been arguing a lot more with Naruto, over little things. It would seem that Naruto is also a future dominant, an alpha, which would explain the numerous arguments you two have been having. Your response the Naruto getting hurt today just cemented that Naruto was your chosen mate, to Iruka and to me." Tsume stopped her explanation to look at her sons face, poor Kiba was staring at her in shock. "Do you have any questions, son?"

"Mate?" Kiba's voice cracked, throwing Tsume into another giggle fit.

"Yes, mate. All Inuzukas find their mates in this way. Unlike our dog partners though, we mate for life."

"Mom…is that why you never…" Kiba stopped as he watched his mother's eyes sadden and she nodded.

"That is why, once you lose your mate that is it. It may seem hard, but that is the way our clan works."

At some point during the lecture, Akamaru had made his way into Kiba's lap; the pup whimpered his sympathy for his boy's mother. Tsume's own partner just sat at her side offering comfort not saying anything.

"Enough about that, your mate is hurt, you now know why you have been acting the way you have, and now we need to go back to the hospital to check up on her."

Kiba nodded and stood to walk to the hospital, his mother's next words floored him.

"Besides, I want grandbabies soon; your sister has not met hers, so I am counting on you." Tsume walked out of the room humming off tune.

Once he realized she was out of the room, Kiba took off after his mother. "Mom! I cannot have kids yet…I cannot even get married yet."

Tsume turned and gave her son a pat on the head, "I know, I am just looking ahead to the future."

They made their way to the hospital in silence. When they arrived, they made their way to room 103, but Naruto was not there. Tsume inquired for Naruto's new room after they made their way back to the front desk. The nurse told them that Naruto had pulled through her surgery and was moved to a recuperating room on the third floor.

Iruka was talking with a wide awake Naruto who was talking animatedly when Kiba and Tsume walked into the room. Kiba rushed to Naruto's side as soon as he saw her smiling at him. Tsume and Iruka quietly made their way out of the room to let the two talk.

As they exited they the room they caught Kiba's first few words before the door closed and had to shake their heads at the stupidity of young males.

"Hey Naruto, you are my mate. Let's kiss!"

A thumping noise came from the door a second later, preceding Naruto's really loud yells, causing Iruka and Tsume to bust out in laughter. They both knew that Naruto was too dominant to just roll over and play simpering, perfect wife to Kiba, for her it would be a full partnership or nothing at all.

"Stupid Kiba! That is NOT how you ask a girl to be your girlfriend, much less a mate!"

"You hit me in the nose!" The shock the adults could hear in his voice caused the two in hall who were listening in to collapse into the seats giggling.

"Yes…yes I did. You just told me that we were mates, you did not even ask. Then you demanded we kiss! You cannot do that!" Akamaru's whimpering came through the door before they heard a much quieter, "I am sorry Akamaru, I will try and yell a litter quieter at Kiba."

"Naruto…you can understand Akamaru?" Wonder filled Kiba's voice, the fact that someone outside of his family, who had no noticeable correlation to animals, was clearly shocking to him.

"Of course I can…like you and your clan, I have… my own ties to the animal world."

"How, when my mom explained the whole mate thing she said something about summons or other animal type ties…what is yours?"

Out in the hall, Iruka and Tsume met each other's eyes in horror when they realized just what it was that Kiba was asking for from Naruto. Before they could rush into the hospital room, Naruto told Kiba her secret.

"Twelve years ago the forth Hokage did not kill the nine tailed fox, he could not, no mortal can. Instead he sealed the fox inside of me the very day I was born."

On her last words, the door slammed open, causing Naruto to look up as Iruka and Tsume fall into the room. Kiba was still staring in shock at his golden haired friend who had just revealed what he was sure had to be at least an S class secrete. Their past spent together suddenly came into sharp focus, all of the glares form the villagers as they walked by, the horrible names thrown their way, how in school the teachers would ignore his friend, and even more recently when he asked the nurse for Naruto's room, everything made since, a terrible since.

Naruto watched the shock turn into anger on Kiba's face, her despair at his reactions must have been blatantly obvious because Tsume stepped forward and tried to intervene.

"Kiba, Naru…"

Before she could finish Naruto's name, Kiba jumped at the bed ridden girl. He was fast, faster than the adults who tried to stop the attacking boy from his sudden lunge. Naruto, for her part, just cringed and closed her eyes, preparing for his attack, waiting to be hit at the very least.

When the hit did not come, Naruto slowly opened her eyes. The warmth of arms around her in a hug started to get through her brain. Kiba was hugging her. When Kiba saw that she had opened her eyes he started to speak to her.

"Naruto. I will protect you from those stupid villigers. I do not care that you hold that stupid fox demon. You are mine…my best friend and my best mate…you are my Naruto."

Tears fell from her bright blue eyes at his declaration and acceptance. Then she put her arms around Kiba and hugged him back. Tsume and Iruka slowly, as not to draw attention from the two love bird…uh, canines, slipped out of the room. Akamaru followed to give his two people some privacy. The adults knew they needed time to comfort each other, they had enough time to plan everything else… after all the two kids were only 12.


End file.
